Baker pushing congressman for debates

By Katie Curley
Staff writer

September 21, 2008 11:37 pm

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WEST NEWBURY —To some, it may be a long shot for a Republican inventor and former Pentucket School Committee member to take over a congressional seat long held by a Bay State Democrat, but West Newbury resident Richard Baker is ready for the challenge.

Baker, of 288 Main Street, has spent the last few weeks away from his job as an intellectual property licensor at 3Com Corp. in Marlborough to focus his attention on campaigning and fundraising full time in anticipation of the November election.

Baker, the father of one son, last week opened his campaign headquarters on Cabot Street in Beverly and is currently trying to schedule a debate with Congressman John Tierney.

Baker will challenge Tierney, now in his sixth term representing the 6th Congressional District, which includes most of Essex County, in the election this fall; congressmen serve two-year terms.

A letter, sent to the Congressman's office earlier this month has been met with a mediocre response, Baker said.

In the letter, Baker proposed scheduling four Lincoln-Douglas-style debates throughout the district. Baker suggested four dates and locations, which he noted he "attempted to schedule around your Congressional schedule."

"I have been trying to get John Tierney to debate me, and I faxed a letter to his office," Baker said. "However, I have not yet received a response. I had e-mailed him and talked with him in person in July and received a response that they would not discuss debates until October."

With six weeks left in campaign season, Tierney's spokesperson Catherine McKenna-Ribeiro, said the Congressman is currently focusing on his job in Washington. "Requests for any debates have been forwarded by this office to the campaign for consideration," she said in an e-mailed statement last week. "The Congressman has been very involved in the energy legislation, just recently passed in the House, and is now focusing on the a possible economic stimulus package as well as spending bills to carry over into the next legislative session."

Ribeiro noted a mid-October forum is being organized by a group in Peabody and has been placed tentatively on Tierney's schedule.

"Once the (legislative) session is completed at the end of the month, the campaign is expected to review requests for debates and determine which one, if any, might be compatible with the short campaign season already filling with commitments," she wrote.

Meanwhile, Baker is pushing his message of changing politics in Washington and making progress to local voters by phone and in person, campaigning on Water Street in Newburyport last Friday, and will continue to hold fundraisers and events for the rest of the campaign season, including a large gathering at Supino's Pizza in Danvers on Oct. 15.

"Tierney is vulnerable," Baker said. "He hasn't done a whole lot. He has been in Congress 12 years and has only had one bill get out of committee."

Presented with that allegation, Tierney said in an inverview on Friday it reflects Baker's lack of knowledge surrounding the Legislative process.

"It shows his gross misunderstanding of how legislation works," Tierney said. "We have had a number of things in bill form and other pieces brought into other laws."

Among those, Tierney referenced the Higher Education Act, Food and Drug Administration Safety Act, State Right to Innovative Health Care Act, The Green Jobs Act, the Early Headstart Program and the fact he introduced the Truman Bill ,which aims to ensure taxpayer money is spent judiciously in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Those are just off the top of my head," Tierney said. "All those are law and went through committee, some stand alone and some are built into other bills. If Mr. Baker understood the legislative process, we would appreciate that, but apparently he doesn't. It's a clever thing to say, but not well grounded in reality."

But Baker feels people are listening to what he has to say.

"People are really open to my message," Baker said. "We want people to go out and exercise their right to vote and have a choice."